


All Comes Crashing Down

by No_Day_But_Today



Category: Next to Normal - Kitt/Yorkey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gabe's alive, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It Was 4 AM And I Was Bored, Suicide, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2633789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No_Day_But_Today/pseuds/No_Day_But_Today
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the outside, the Goodman family looks like the picture perfect American family. Their son is the captain of the football team. Their daughter is a straight A student with a natural talent for music. But what happens when that family is struck with tragedy?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Almost Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everybody! I got the idea for this story at 4 in the morning because my brain doesn't like to let me sleep. It's pretty dark, do be warned. That being said, I hope you enjoy it.

Gabe Goodman was just getting home from a party. His dad had told him he couldn't go, so he had snuck out instead. The party had been to celebrate the win that landed them a spot in the playoffs, he had to go. He closed the front door softly, hoping that no one noticed that he was gone.

"And where have you been, young man?"

"Shit..." Gabe sighs and lightly hits his forehead against the door, "sorry mom." Gabe turned around to face his mother, a sheepish look on his face.

"Mom, you know that I had to go! The party was for the football team! We got a spot in the playoffs! And I'm the captain, I would have had to go even if I didn't want to."

His mother, Diana, sighed and got up off the sofa.

"I know sweetie. You're lucky _I_ caught you, your father would've grounded you for a month. Now go to bed. You have school tomorrow and you need your sleep."

"I know, I know... Thanks mom."

"I love you sweetheart. Sleep good."

"Night Mom, love you too." She kissed him and headed up the stairs, on her way to bed as well. Gabe sighed and rubbed his face as he trudged up the stairs to his room. Just as he was about to close his bedroom door, his sister peeked out of her room across the hall.

"Well, look who was out late. Shouldn't you be in bed or something?"

"Look whose talking. Don't you have a test or something tomorrow, Natalie?"

"For your information, I do. I'm studying for it."

"Whatever. Night Natalie."

"Goodnight Gabe, sleep well."

He closed his door and sighed. He stripped off his shirt and flopped onto the bed where he lay for an hour before giving up on the idea of sleep. It was 4 am. It's not like he was going to get much sleep tonight anyway.

**. . .**

Dan groaned as his alarm clock went off. Without getting up, he reached out and groped around for the snooze button before hitting it a little harder than necessary. He lay there for a moment more before groaning and sitting up. He looked over at the bed beside him to discover that his wife was already up. Dan couldn't understand how she could wake up earlier than him when he struggled to get out of bed at, what time was it? He picks up his alarm clock and squints at the light of it's display -  6:30 a.m. He went to bed far earlier than she did, and somehow he still wakes up later than her. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled to the closest to get ready for the day. Diana, on the other hand, was already up and cooking breakfast, happy and chipper as could be. Gabe jogged downstairs as soon as he smelled food.

"Morning mom. Smells good." Diana just smiled and put a plate in front of Gabe, laughing as he practically inhales his food. Natalie wasn't to far behind him. She came downstairs and sat down at the table with a yawn.

"Good morning, sweetie. Sleep well?" Natalie just grunted in response and began eating. Dan was the last one to make it downstairs. He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to read the paper. Everything was the same, normal routine that they followed every day. Soon, everyone was off to school and work, and Diana was alone.

"Today's going to be a good one." She said to herself as she started on the dishes.

**. . .**

Diana was just starting dinner when Dan got home, she greets him with a kiss.

"Hi honey, how was work?"

"Boring, as usual. Where is everybody?"

"Gabe's still at practice and Natalie's probably still rehearsing for her Yale audition. They should be home soon though." Sure enough, no more than 15 minutes later Gabe and Natalie walked through the door. Natalie promptly headed straight up the stairs to her room.

"Hi mom, hi dad! I'm gonna go start on my homework."

"Okay, sweetie. Dinner's in 10 minutes."

"Okay!"

**. . .**

The Goodman family were just finishing up dinner when Gabe asked to be excused. Diana looked at him, noting how much food was still left on his plate.

"Are you sure sweetie? You've barely touched your food."

"Yeah. I'm just not that hungry. I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Okay sweetie."

**. . .**

It was about a half an hour later when Diana headed upstairs. She was headed to her room to change her shirt - she had spilled water all over it while doing the dishes - when she realized that the shower was still on. She knocked on the door.

"Gabe? Sweetie? Are you still in there?" Gabe didn't reply. The only thing that she could hear was the sound of water droplets hitting the porcelain of the bathtub.

"Gabe?... Gabriel?..." Her heart started pounding. The only time Gabe never answered was when he had his headphones in, and he couldn't be wearing those in the shower. She kept calling his name and knocking on the door, but he wouldn't answer. She panicked and pushed open the door, only to find Gabe lying on the bathroom floor, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. The entire neighborhood could hear her scream.


	2. Sirens

Dan was downstairs when he heard Diana scream. His head snapped up from the newspaper that he was reading. Only when he heard another scream, this time from Natalie, did he jump up from his chair. He sprinted up the stairs to find his daughter standing in the doorway of the bathroom, crying. He rushed to the door and pushed Natalie aside, only to see something that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. His son, his little boy, was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Diana was clinging to him, begging him to wake up. Dan fell to his knees and blindly reached for his son. The only thing that he could think of was no. No. This can't be happening, He was wrenched from his thoughts when Natalie started sobbing. They needed to get help.

“Call 911...” he whispered, “Call 911!” Natalie still didn't move.

“Natalie! Call 911! Do it! NOW!!!” He screamed at her. She sprinted from the room and Dan collapsed, clinging to his sons body.

**.** **.** **.**

Nancy was having a pretty boring day at work. Then again, boring is good when you're a 911 operator. It was about 8:00pm when she got her first serious call of the night.

“911 what's your emergency?” All she heard was sobbing on the other end of the line.

“Hello? Sweetie, are you all right? Are you hurt?” The girl just kept on crying.

“What happened, sweet heart? Do you need help?” Between sobs the girl managed to choke out 'My brother', 'so much blood', and 'help'.

“It's okay, sweetie. Help is on the way. Where are you at right now?”

“1402 Lancaster Lane.” Nancy typed the address into the computer and quickly dispatched an ambuance.

“Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until the ambulance gets there?”

“Please...”

“Okay, Sweetie. You're doing so good. Whats your name Honey?”

“Natalie Goodman.”

“Okay, Natalie, the ambulance is on it's way.” This seemed to calm Natalie down some.

“Natalie, can you tell me what happened?”

“My brother... he... he...” The sobbing started fresh again. The only thing that Nancy could make out was 'blood' and 'dead'. She heard the sirens a few minutes later.

**. . .**

The paramedics rushed into 1402 Lancaster Lane. They followed the sound of sobbing upstairs to the bathroom. The parents were clinging to the boy, sobbing while a teenage girl cried in her room. The parents had to be forcibly removed from the boy in order for the paramedics to get to him. The parents struggled and screamed as the paramedics pushed them back. By the time they got to him, his body was already getting cold. He must have been dead for almost an hour before the call was made. The only thing they could do was say that they were sorry and zip up the body in a black polyethylene bag and take it away to the morgue.

 


	3. The Morning After Tragedy

The paramedics were gone, but the house was far from quiet. The house at 1402 Lancaster Lane was filled with the sound of sobs and ringing telephones. Dan was the closest to the house phone, but he didn't seem to care. He just sat in his chair with his head in his hands. Earlier he had managed to usher Diana into bed, where she continued to cry. Natalie locked herself away in her room, tucked under the covers crying silently. She had pillows pressed to her ears to block out her mothers cries. It was 3:00 in the morning before Dan unplugged the phone. The ringing stopped and the house went silent. He trudged up the stairs to check on the remaining members of his family. Remaining. He never thought that he would ever have to say that. He cracked open Natalie's door and found her curled up in a nest of blankets with tear-stained cheeks. He quietly closed the door and went to the bedroom he shared with his wife. Diana was curled up into the fetal position with her back to the door. She must have cried herself to sleep. Dan crept over and kissed her forehead before leaving. He shut the door as gently as possible and walked back to the bathroom. He flipped on the light to see the pool dried blood. His son's blood. The only thing left from that disastrous night, other than an empty room. He sighed and went to get a bucket.

**. . .**

It was early morning Dan finished cleaning the floor. He dumped the last bucket of dirty water and dried his blood stained hands. The house was still quiet. Dan knocked softly on Natalie's bedroom door.

“Natalie... it's time to get up for school. Natalie...?” He opened the door to find his daughter fast asleep. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gently nudged her awake.

“Natalie. You need to get up.”

“Uugh. Why? After what happened last night you expect me to go to school?”

“If you miss, you'll lose your perfect attendance record.”

“Yeah, of course. That's what you'd be worried about right now! Get out!” Natalie pushed her father out of her room and slammed the door. Dan sighed and went back downstairs. He plugged the phone in to call into work. For the moment, the phone was silent. He dialed the number for his work and stayed on the line just long enough to call in. He did the same for Diana. Dan sunk back into his chair and closed his eyes.

**. . .**

He was woken up when Natalie came downstairs.

“I'm going to school.” Her voice sounded flat and empty, but Dan didn't seem to notice.

“Okay. Have fun.” Natalie scoffed.

“Bye.” She left, slamming the door behind her. Dan sighed and pulled himself up out of his chair. He stumbled his way up to the bedroom where Diana was still asleep. Dan fell into bed and wrapped his arms around his wife.

“We'll get through this. Things will get better, I promise.” He whispered as he kissed her cheek. Dan closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

 


	4. Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm so sorry that it took me this long to get another chapter up! I got a new computer because my old one died (again). Microsoft word refused, and still refuses, to download on the new computer, so I currently have Open Office. But, hey! Now I can type some stuff up! For this story, I'm going to update on Fridays. This story is unbetaed, so if there are any glaring errors please let me know. Anyway, please enjoy this new chapter!

As soon as Natalie got to school, she was bombarded with questions.

“Was there an ambulance at your house last night?”

“Is everybody okay?”

“What happened last night?”

“Are you okay?”

“Where's Gabe?”

“Hey, are you crying?”

Natalie managed to push her way through the crowd and into the bathroom. She dropped her backpack and ran into a stall. She locked the stall door behind her and sat down on the edge of the toilet seat. She felt tears fall down her cheeks and in the back of her mind she worried about her eyeliner. She laughed at that. Typical, she can't even stop worrying after her brother... She started sobbing again. She hated this, she hated everything. Why did she have to come to school today? Why couldn't she stay at home? At least she could cry in privacy there.

She heard the 10 minute warning bell go off. She hauled herself up and tried to get herself together. She went to the mirror to try and salvage what was left of her makeup. She sniffled and scrubbed her eyeliner off her cheeks before picking up her back pack. She hurried to her locker and stuffed her backpack inside. She grabbed her math binder and ran up two flights of stairs to make it to class in time. She reached the class room as the one minute warning bell rang, but she couldn't bring herself to go inside just yet. Other students pushed past her to get into the room. Natalie took one last deep breath and pushed open the door.

**. . .**

It didn't take very long for the rest of the school to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There was an ambulance at the Goodman house last night, Gabe wasn't at school today. Honestly, Natalie didn't couldn't believe how long it took everyone to figure it out. The rumors started flying around the school. One person thought that Gabe was in prison because he killed one of their parents. Another thought that Gabe might of fallen down the stairs, so now they didn't have a chance at the championships. The rumors ranged from absolutely crazy to dead on accurate. Soon, everyone was texting Gabe like crazy.

_Dude, why aren't you at school?_

_Hey Gabe! Are you sick?_ :(

_Bro, did you kill somebody?_

_Dude, did you get hurt? We don't have a chance without you._

_What was up at your house last night?_

_Dude, are you there?_

**. . .**

Dan woke up with a groan. An extremely annoying beeping noise had woken him up. He rooted around trying to turn off his alarm clock. After a few moments of arm flailing, he finally opened his eyes and looked towards his alarm clock. 1:27. Why the hell would he ave an alarm set for 1:27? He picked up the clock and hit every button her could find, but the beeping didn't stop. Dan pulled the power cord out of the electrical socket hard enough to hit himself in the face with the plug. He threw the alarm clock down and rubbed his face. The beeping was still there. He pulled himself out of bed and went in search of the incessant beeping.

Well, it wasn't coming from Natalie's room. Not in the bathroom, not in their room. Dan soon found himself standing in front of the door to Gabe's room. He hesitated before pushing the door open and walking in. Dan stopped in his tracks. Gabe was normally very messy. His clothes were usually strewn all over the floor, papers were usually everywhere, his bed was never made. But today, everything was spotless. This clothes were even folded inside of his closet, his bed was perfectly made, his desk was cleared off except for an open notebook and his cell phone.

The phone was lit up and beeping every five seconds. Dan picked it up and read the screen. _48 New Messages._ He looked down and saw the most recent text, from someone named Josh: _Gabe, are you okay?_ Dan slammed the phone down and closed his eyes. He couldn't handle this right now, he just couldn't. He sighed and slowly open his eyes. He turned off Gabe's phone before another text message could pop up. He gently set the phone down on the desk and looked around Gabe's room. It almost looked as if no one had lived in it for years. His eyes wandered until they fell on the notebook on the desk. Dan frowned and picked it up.

He began to read. _'By the time anyone finds this...'._ Dan stopped and stumbled back until his legs hit the bed. He sat down as tears began to fall again. This was Gabe's suicide note. His _son's_ suicide note. There was no chance that all of this was an accident now. Dan steeled his nerves and began to read again.

_'By the time anyone finds this, I'll be dead...'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bum bum bum! Cliff hanger! (aka I'm really bad at writing suicide notes so I need more time for that part). Hope you guys enjoyed everything! Expect the next chapter to be up on Friday. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading.


	5. The Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm super sorry that this took me this long. Turns out that I'm really bad at writing suicide notes. This chapter is just going to be the suicide note so it might be a little short. The next chapter will hopefully be up soon if I can find the time to write it. Please don't read this if you're easily triggered, I don't want anyone to get upset.

By the time anyone reads this, I'll be dead. Wow, doesn't that sound melodramatic? Well, no one ever said that writing was my strong suit. I never was really good at expressing myself, was I? I mean, if I was I probably wouldn't be dead. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is no one's fault but my own. No one pushed me to anything. It was my own decision. I was just so... different. Everyone around me seemed so happy, like they didn't have a care in the world. I never felt like that. I was always worrying about something, like what to wear tomorrow, did I study enough for my science test, will we win the big game, does everyone remember that one time I broke my arm on the playground in third grade? Stupid stuff. Stuff that never mattered to anyone but me. It even started to screw up how I slept. I was so worried that I couldn't shut my brain up at night. I would just lay there, staring at my ceiling with a million thoughts running rampant through my head. And I just felt... flat all the time. All of my friends would get so excited for things like parties of football games, but I never could. It was like they were living and I was just... existing. It sucked. And it made me feel even more out of place. I'd be at parties and everyone would be happy and excited and they could talk to people. I was just there. I sat in the corner and worried about what people would think about me. Any time anyone would come up to me, I would panic on the inside. I didn't know what to do so I just copied what everyone else did. Everyone always called me a leader, but in reality I was just following their lead. I'm really sorry if you had to clean up after me. I've tried before, in less messy ways, but nothing ever worked right. I would always chicken out, or the rope would break, whatever. It never went right. This seemed like my last option. I never wanted this to be messy. Mom, Dad, Natalie, if you're reading this, I love you so much. I'm so sorry, sorry for everything. I'm sorry that I did this, that I couldn't be who you thought I was, who you wanted me to be. I love you so much. I want you to know that. I'm sorry.

Gabe

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that that was so short. I'm still not very happy with this chapter, but if I don't post it, it will sit on my computer for the rest of eternity. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Until next time!


	6. Highs and Lows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry, guys! Life has been super hectic and I got really busy with our school musical. Our director thought that it would he a great idea to put on The Phantom of the Opera in 6 weeks... Anyway, here is a super long chapter to make up for my long absence!

**Disclaimer:** I'm sorry if this chapter is factually incorrect. I don't have any experience as to how a psychotic break manifests or how BPD is triggered. If anyone out there does know than I would be extremely glad to hear from you so I can make this more accurate.

 

The note fell from Dan's hand as tears began to drip down his cheeks. He watched the piece of paper flutter to the ground. He buried his face in his hands and let himself cry for the first time.

“Dan...?” Dan snapped his head up to see Diana standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. He jumped up and quickly kicked the note under Gabe's bed, wiping his tears away.

“Diana... Honey... No-nothings wrong.”

“Why aren't you at work?”

“Oh, uh... I wasn't feeling well this morning so I decided to call in...”

“Oh, okay. Where are the kids?” Dan straightened up in confusion. Kids? Had she forgotten what had happened last night?

“Um... School. Diana, do you... do you remember what happened last night?” Diana hesitated.

“Uh, no actually. I must have had a headache. Why? What happened?” So she really didn't remember. Dan struggled to come up with a story about last night.

“Oh, um... Nothing exciting really. Just a, uh, great... family game night...” Dan mentally slapped himself for that excuse. They never had family game nights.

“Okay. I'm going to go shower.”

“Wait!” Dan flew into a momentary panic before he remembered that he had cleaned up all of the blood. “I... uh... I love you.” Diana smiled at him in slight confusion.

“I love you, too.” Dan fell back onto Gabe's bed, rubbing his face. He sighed before sitting back up. He fished under the bed and pulled out Gabe's suicide note. He stared at the words on the page, memorizing the loops and lines of his son's handwriting. Without thinking, he crumpled the paper up, tears pricking at his eyes again. He stood up and went to the trash can. His hand hovered above the empty bin, unable to release the ball of paper. Sighing, Dan turned his face away and let go, hanging his head when he heard the paper connect with the bottom of the bin. Dan turned around and took one last, long look at the room. He walked out into the hall and closed the door, momentarily letting his head rest against the wood. He pulled himself up and made his way downstairs to find something to eat.

* * *

Henry was bored. 5th hour World Lit was proving to be the most boring class he had ever taken. Not like he wanted the hour to end. He had a math test next hour that he hadn't studied for. Maybe he should just skip, not like anyone in that class would notice anyway. Henry was kind of invisible. After another 20 minutes of Mr. Bauhman's monotone ramblings, the bell finally rang. Henry gathered up his stuff and meandered down to his locker. Gathering up everything, he grabbed his backpack and tried to find a place to hide out for another hour.

He finally settled on one of the empty practice rooms down in the music wing. He found the room furthest down the hall and opened the door. These rooms were always nice, he could always play away on the piano without anyone correcting him or judging him. He sat down on the piano bench and ran his hands across the keys. He didn't feel like playing today. He walked over and opened the little window. Sitting down on the floor, Henry dug through his bag until he found his stash of pot. Getting high sounded like his best option right now, given that he didn't want to play and there was little else to do in the little room.

He didn't know how long he was smoking, but he must have missed the last bell because someone was walking down the hallway. Henry swore and tried to put everything away. He was about to put his joint in his bag in a panic when he realized that that probably wasn't the best idea. He ran around in circles before flicking it out the window, hoping that nothing caught on fire. The footsteps got closer and he heard the doorknob being jiggled. He panicked, trying to find a hiding place. He spotted the storage closet to his left and darted inside, hoping that whoever was there wouldn't stay for long.

* * *

Natalie wanted to punch someone. School was literal hell today. No one would leave her alone! Everyone, and I mean everyone, had to ask her questions about her brother. She had almost made it through the day before she snapped. She was in her 6th hour World History class when it happened. They were supposed to be working on a essay about 18th century France when her teacher came up and asked her why Gabe hadn't been in class earlier that day. She snapped. “He's dead, okay? He killed himself last night! There, does that make you all happy? You finally know what happened?” She grabbed her things and ran out of the class room.

She hid in the bathroom again, crying until she felt numb. She wiped away her tears and sat on the floor in silence until the final bell rang. She slowly hauled herself up and wandered to her locker. She absentmindedly grabbed some binders and shoved then into her backpack.

She was snapped out of her daze when someone put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Shane, one of her brother's long time friends, looking down at her with a sad look on her face.

“Hey, I um... I'm really sorry about Gabe.” Natalie looked down and ignored him until she felt his hand move away. She didn't want to be rude, but she didn't have the stomach for any of that right now.

Apparently, it hadn't taken long for the news to spread. As she walked down the hallway leading to the music wing she got a lot of sad or sympathetic looks. She ducked her head down and refused to look up until she was alone.

Lucky for her, the music wing was empty. She sighed and smiled a little bit. She felt more at home here than she did at home. Well, now anyways. She slowly walked down the hallway, trailing her fingers along the wall. She found rehearsal room 8 soon enough and opened the door.

Weird. The window was open. Whoever had the room last must have left it open. Natalie sighed in frustration and walked over to close it. As she reached the window, the smell of pot hit her nose. Nice, some kids must be sitting in the parking lot smoking. Well, as long as they don't bother her, she doesn't care. She walked back to piano and sat down.

Weird. The keys were already uncovered. Whoever used this room before her must have been really careless. Natalie slowly placed her hands on the keys, savoring the sensation of the cool ivory. With a deep breath she began to play, oblivious to the world around her.

 


	7. Possible New Begginings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me for so long, I finally got my inspiration back. Anyway, here is a brand new chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: This chapter contains dialogue from Next to Normal. This dialogue belongs to it's respective owners, a.k.a not me.

Henry wasn’t having much fun. When he had thrown himself into the closet, he hadn’t bothered to check if it had anything in it. Well, just his luck, it was crammed full of boxes, music stands, and instruments. He had managed to throw himself up on top of the pile, which turned out to be a very bad idea. His neck was bent as far to the side as her could get it to keep a music stand from jabbing a hole into his skull, a pile of sheet music had spilled out from a box he had tipped over and was now covering him from head to toe, and the slide from a broken trombone was trying to go where the sun doesn’t shine. To sum it up, this might have been the worst idea that Henry had ever had.

The only thing that made this situation even remotely bearable was the beautiful sonata whoever-that-was-in-the-rehearsal-room was playing. It really was beautifully played, no matter how rigid it was.

Henry managed to stay where he was for about 2 minutes before curiosity got the better of him. He brushed the sheet music off of himself and then groped around to try and turn the music stand. After finally finding it and shoving it out of his way, Henry carefully pushed himself off of the damn trombone, careful to not make any noise or become even more intimate with other various instruments.

Henry slowly cracked open the closet door to peak out at the person playing piano. It was a girl. A very pretty girl. Her eyes were closed as her fingers danced across the keys of the piano, carefully plucking out a Mozart piece. Maybe Henry’s luck was changing, with her eyes closed he might be able to sneak out.

Henry eased open the door and slipped out. He spent what felt like an eternity trying to shut the door without it squeaking. He tip toed across the room and had his hand on the doorknob when he chanced a look behind him. She still had her eyes closed. Damn, she was pretty. And she could play. It took a second, but it finally clicked. It was Natalie, that girl he sat behind in Math. He didn’t know that she could play. Maybe this was his chance to talk to her.

Okay, maybe this was the worst idea ever, but he really wanted to talk to her. He opened the door quietly before closing it normally. She didn’t move. He walked over and stood next t her. Still no reaction. Damn. Well, he’d decided to stay, there was no backing out now.

“Sounds good!”

* * *

 

Dan sighed. There was practically nothing in the fridge. The same was true for the pantry. Great. That meant that he had to go grocery shopping. Dan slamed the fridge closed and grabbed his keys. He reached the door before he realized that he was only wearing pajama pants. Maybe getting dressed first would be a good idea.

Dan trudged up the stairs and flung open the closet. He grabbed the first things he saw and threw them on. He went to the mirror and realized that he hadn’t shaved. Well, that wasn’t an option, he could still hear Diana in the bathroom. Wonderful. Now he got to look like he felt: like shit.

Dan walked back down the hall and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Diana, Honey?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to go grocery shopping, we don’t have much food in the house.”

“Okay, sweetie! Take the van, it’ll have more room in the back for bags. The keys should be on the hook by the door.”

 “Okay,” Dan was about to walk away when he remembered something. “Diana, can you do me a favor?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t answer any phone calls while I’m gone… okay?”

“Uh… okay…”

“Honey… I love you.”

“Love you too, dear.” Dan sighed before making his way downstairs. He had no clue what was going on with Diana. It was like she actually had no idea of what happened last night. Like she thought that this was just like any other day. Oh well, maybe it was for the best. She would be happier this way. He just wasn’t looking forward to when she realized what happened.

Dan grabbed the keys off of the hook and slipped out of the house. He climbed into the van and just leaned his forehead onto the steering wheel. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take before a meltdown. He stayed like that for almost 10 minutes, unable to lift his head up. The only reason he was able to force himself to look up was the fact that Natalie was going to be home soon.

Dan fished around in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He should probably let Natalie know that he was out shopping. And to tell her to not mention anything that happened last night to her mother. Dan dialed the number and waited. She didn’t pick up. Weird. He calls again, and the same thing happens. Over and over again, she doesn’t answer. This never happens. Dan’s heart rate picks up with each phone call.

Finally, after about the 15th phone call, Dan panicks. Screw groceries, where the hell was Natalie? Dan jams the key in the ignition, starts up the van, and speeds towards the school.

* * *

 

Natalie was just about to finish her sonata when a voice made her jump and screw up.

“Sounds good!” Natalie practically groweled.

“I still have this practice room for seven and a half minutes.”

“Yeah! I mean… I know! I just like to listen…” Natalie’s eye started to twitch with irritation. “I’m Henry.” ‘Henry’ held his hand out, but Natalie just stared at him, willing him to leave so she could be alone.

“Yeah, I mean, I know.” Natalie did a double take.

“It’s a little creepy that you know…”

“We’ve gone to school together for, like, six years. I sit behind you in four classes.” An idea popped into Natalie’s head. This guy was here, she might as well have a little bit of fun today. God knows she needs it.

“Uh huh, also creepy…”

“You’re here a lot… Before school and after…” Okay, that seriously was a little creepy.

“Right… seven minutes.” Henry started to walk out and Natalie chuckled, “You give up way to easily.” Henry turned around and walked up and stood right behind her.

“Uh, you’re kind of a confusing person…”


End file.
